A knife is a tool with a cutting edge or blade. Knives of different types, designs, and for different uses have been developed, such as kitchen knives (e.g., paring knives, carving knives, and/or chefs knives), or other types of knives which can be used as a tool or weapon (e.g., a pocket knife, scalpel, switchblade, utility knife, and/or hunting knife). A knife typically has a blade and a handle, the handle generally being formed by two pieces of material (e.g., from wood or resin), referred to as the scales, that provide a comfortable grip for the user. Knives typically fall into two categories based on the configuration of the blade with respect to the handle, namely fixed blade knives and folding knives. Fixed blade knives do not fold and generally include a tang extending from the blade into the handle. The tang may be a full tang (extending the full length and width of the handle) or a partial tang (extending only a portion of the length and/or width of the handle). In contrast, folding knives are typically designed so that the blade pivots about a blade pivot located near the hilt, allowing the blade to be secured into the space between the scales.
Knife scales can be made of wood, metal, resin or any suitable composite material. In the case of a fixed blade knife, the scales are placed on the opposite sides of the metal tang and typically fixedly attached thereto with pins, rivets, or glue. In conventional knife making, the two pieces of material for the scales are first secured to the tang and then subsequently shaped into the desired shape of the scales to form the handle. Most commonly, the scales of the knife are attached to the tang with rivets and thus, the scales are not removable. Knives with removable scales have been developed and such knives typically use one or more removable fasteners (e.g., screws) in place of the rivets to affix the scale to the handle. However, knives with removable scales of conventional design may provide sub-optimal performance, e.g., with the handle having too much free play relative to blade as compared to a permanently affixed handle. Thus, designers and users of knives continue to seek improvements, both functional and aesthetic, to the art of knife making.